Water won't get hot

[pheo]

Since I installed a hot water heater 10 years ago I had occasional problems getting hot water for a bath. It would come out hot for the first few gallons, then slowly gets cooler until it is so cool I needed to turn it off to keep the water I have, comfortably warm. Only the first couple minutes was it fully heated.

I discovered if I turned on the hot water for a couple of minutes, about a half hour before I take a bath, there will be enough for a full tub.

A few months ago I had a energy efficient furnace installed and that took the furnace's exhaust off the house's smoke stack, leaving only the hot water heater to use the stack. -- that made the bath situation even worse. It is luke warm from the start and gets cooler from there.

I had our utility, whom we have a service plan, come out to check it out. They couldn't find a problem, but decided to replace the thermostat just to see if that helps -- it didn't. They finally said, perhaps the heater needs to be moved so the ductwork will be lengthened, since the hot water heater is now isolated on the stack. They thought the heat might be being sucked out because of the short distance from the heater to straight out the chimney.

Does this make sense? Should I really move the heater?

[Joseph Meehan]

That does not make sense to me. I would be thinking a defective thermostat or a dip tube problem. It may even be a thermocouple.

[hallerb]

tank is now 10 years old? likely sluged up. best solution is just replace it.

go with at least a 50 gallon high BTU tank, 75,000 BTUs will likely double the hot water capacity you currently have.

the furnace change probably had nothing to do with the trouble

before wasting more money replace the tank

[DerbyDad03]

FWIW, when I moved into my house I had the same symptoms as you described in your first paragraph.

Turned out that the water heater had been installed incorrectly, with the hot water pipe connected to the cold inlet and the cold pipe connected to the hot outlet. This resulted in splashing cold water over the top of the hot water, cooling it substantially. The paperwork that came with the WH showed that it had been installed 5 years prior. That meant that the family of 4 that lived in the house before us, put up with luke warm water for 4 years. I often wondered how bad their previous WH must of been if they thought new was working right!

Granted, I don't think I ever tried the process you described in papragraph 2, but I don't see how it would have helped my situation.

[Jerry]

Before you do anything else, Google "dip tube".

Jerry

[trader4]

Since it has been that way for 10 years, right from the start, I'd agree with DerbyDad that it's more likely that it was installed with the hot and cold lines reversed. Now how anyone could put up with it that way all these years is beyond me. If it's not reversed, then missing dip tube is next suspect. Definitely nothing to do with the furnace exhaust being eliminated and the chimney now being used only by the water heater.

[hallerb]

theres only one way the lack of a furnace could effect water heating...... and its highly unlikely cause in the summer you still had hot water and the furnace probably never trned on.

but imagine that large flue, with a small heat source

the flue might not draw properly, since it never gets hot enough

but the right solution is lining the chimney not moving the tank!

Again I believe that with a 10 year old tank the best soution is a brand new tank.

lets say the new tank cost 500 bucks installed

with a average life expectancy of perhaps 10 years. the yearly cost is

50 bucks, thats less than a cheap candy bar a week.

[pheo]

I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem. I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess I'll be checking on new WH.

[Bob M.]

I checked the water heater and the cold is connected to cold and hot to hot, so unless it was manufactured wrong, that is not the problem. I would think the service guy would have thought of the dip tube, but maybe not.

I am glad to know though, that moving it is a waste of time. I guess I'll be checking on new WH.

Before you bother with a new water heater, try to find out if you still have a dip tube. Yours may have been made during the time that dip tubes disintegrated due to a change in the formula for the plastic. Dip tube = $10, water heater = $200 plus.

[Bubba]

$200?? Damn. Where you getting them.

50 gal gas is almost double that here. Then its gotta be installed. Bubba

[DerbyDad03]

Isn't this a DIY newsgroup? Installation is free!

[hallerb]

if you ever run out of hot water spend a little more and buy a high output tank. most tanks around 30,000 BTU .... high BTU about 75,000 BTUs and the tanks are better made, ..........

doubles the amount of hot water

[Stormin Mormon]

Pull both lines, put dip tube in cold side?

[Stormin Mormon]

YEs, they did have a defective run of dip tubes for a while I changed one for a friend, or rather installed one as it was missing. It took less than an hour.

[hallerb]

with a 10 year o;ld tank disturbing anything like attempting to replace dip tube may generate leaks and is a fiancial loser.

buy a new tank its time